Wednesday, May 19, 2010

IOP Journal #1

Brainstorming and "Hardships"

For my IOP I will be discussing how African-American folktales influenced Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. I had a bit of trouble coming up with this topic. I originally wanted to compare Hurston's real life with elements in her novel. I decided to talk about folktales because it is an interesting and unique topic.

I have been looking online for African-American folktales. I have also been looking in the library. I had not had much luck procuring any good folktales. I then started searching for African-American folktales connected with Zora Neale Hurston. I found a book called Every Tongue Got to Confess by Zora Neale Hurston. It is the third book in a series by Zora Neale Hurston. These books are collections of African-American folktales.

Now I am trying to find connections in the novel and in the folktales that would show how the folktales influenced Hurston's writing. For example, I am looking for any themes of death in the folktales and I am looking at how they show the death. I am then going to compare that to how Hurston shows death in her novels. Then I will try and analyze this connection by showing what the folktales do and to what extent they influence Their Eyes Were Watching God.

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